Multiple Record-Breaking Alligators Caught in Mississippi

On September 1, the record for the largest alligator ever caught in Mississippi was 697.5 pounds. That record was broken not once but twice on Sunday, the first day of the state's alligator-hunting season.

Beth Trammell, of Madison, and her hunting party caught and killed an alligator weighing in at 723.5 pounds in Issaquenna County, breaking the old record by 26 pounds. However, her record didn't last long.

Mississippi Alligator program coordinator Ricky Flynt had just finished certifying Trammell's kill when, just an hour later, he had to certify a brand-new record. Dustin Bockman, of Vicksburg, had just hauled in a 727.5-pounder, making him the new record holder.

If Trammell is upset at her turn of fortune, she can at least take pride in knowing that her catch was actually longer—by all of one inch. But disappointingly, her 13-foot-5.5-inch gator came in just short of a new length record. The difference? Also one inch.

And because setting new alligator records was the cool thing to do in Mississippi on Sunday, Brandon Maskew and Allen Purvis, of Ellsville, caught the longest and heaviest female alligator in the state's history: a 10-foot-long, 295.3-pound beast.

Alligator season runs through September 9. By then, who knows how many times these records will be smashed?